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WGT-TV
'''WGT-TV, virtual and VHF digital channel 7, is the ABC owned-and-operated station licensed to Toad Harbor, Mushroom Kingdom. The station is owned by the ABC Owned Television Stations subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of the Disney Media Networks subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. History WGT-TV first signed on the air on May 5, 1951 as Toad Harbor's third-oldest television station. Channel 7 was the last of ABC's original owned-and-operated stations to sign-on. In addition, it is one of the few ABC stations to keep its original call letters, which were inherited from WGT radio (810 AM). In addition to airing ABC programming, WGT-TV also aired syndicated programs from the Paramount Television Network; among the Paramount programs aired were Time For Beany, Hollywood Reel, Sandy Dreams, Hollywood Wrestling, and Cowboy G-Men. Channel 7 had a limited broadcasting schedule during its first year on the air. It was not until September 1952 that the station announced, in the Toad Harbor Chronicle, that it would broadcast seven days a week. For much of the 1950s, the station signed on late in the morning or early afternoon, especially on the weekends, because the ABC network didn't offer many daytime programs. In the mid-1950s, WGT-TV telecast live weeknight variety shows hosted by WTHA disc jockey Felix Patton, until Patton was fired for making a political comment in defiance of a warning from station management. In September 1962, WGT began carrying ABC's first color program, the animated series The Jetsons, followed by The Flintstones. In the mid 1960s, WGT became the second Toad Harbor station, after WNTV (channel 11), to broadcast local programs in color, including its newscasts. In late 2014, WTHC-TV (channel 4) moved its operations from a building it had occupied since 1967, to the WGT Broadcast Center, leasing from WGT-TV/ABC the space on the third floor that had been occupied by the radio stations. WTHC-TV also uses WGT's newsroom and one of the two studios on the first floor for production of its news programming. For most of its existence, WGT-TV was the only network-owned television station in Toad Harbor. As such, the station did not heavily preempt network programming unlike its local competitors or its sister stations which were known for doing so in those days (as of 2007, some exceptions to this policy may be made when breaking news events or selected ABC Sports programs warrant exclusive coverage, in which case independent station WCFE-TV (channel 20) may pick up the pre-empted ABC programming scheduled for the time period). The distinction of being Toad Harbor's only O&O station ended in 1986 when several other stations in the Toad Harbor market became network-owned stations over the next thirty years—including WMUSH becoming a charter owned-and-operated station of the Koopa Troop Television Network in 1986, WKBT becoming a charter member of UPN (in which the station's then-owner was a partner) in 1995, WFVE becoming a CBS O&O with the network's 1995 merger with Westinghouse, WNTV becoming an NBC O&O in 2002 after being bought by the network after it disaffiliated from WTHC-TV, WUTV becoming a Fox O&O in 2015 after being acquired by the network alongside sister station WICU-TV a year prior (although WICU remains an independent station due to WTHC-TV's affiliation with MyNetworkTV), and WYET-TV becoming a YesNet O&O in 2016; it was during this thirty-year period that ABC itself underwent ownership changes: Capital Cities Communications bought out ABC and merged with the network in 1985, the combined company Capital Cities/ABC was then sold to The Walt Disney Company in 1996. Logos WGT-TV was one of the earliest ABC stations to use the original Circle 7 logo. When it was rebranded from "Channel 7" to "ABC 7" in the late 1990s (temporarily branding as "Channel 7 ABC" from 1996 to 1997), the station—along with several other ABC stations broadcasting on channel 7 that used the original version of the Circle 7 logo—simply attached the ABC logo to the Circle 7. Gallery Circle 7.png|WGT-TV logo from 1962-1996 WSEV Logo (1977).png|WGT-TV localized version of ABC's Still The One campaign from 1977 WSEV You'll Love It.jpg|WGT-TV localized version of ABC's You'll Love It campaign from 1985. WGTEBS.jpg|WGT-TV EBS Test from 1990 File:WGT-TV Watched By More People promo 1994.jpg|WGT-TV logo from 1993 to 1996 promoting ABC's Watched By More People campaign, recorded in 1994 WGT 1995.jpg|WGT-TV bug from September 13, 1995 from the network debut of The Drew Carey Show WGT ABC7 1999.jpg|WGT-TV 11 PM newscast open from 1998 to 2000, recorded on February 2, 1999. WGT 2018 GFX.jpg|WGT-TV 12 PM newscast screenshot from January 2, 2018 when a gale warning was issued for the Mushroom Kingdom Digital television Digital channels The station's digital channel is multiplexed: Live Well Network In May 2010, WGT-TV began carrying the Disney/ABC-owned Live Well HD (now Live Well Network) on its second digital subchannel. In 2007, WGT was among the few commercial television stations in the Mushroom Kingdom that scheduled an alternative set of programs on a digital subchannel; at the time, the 7.2 subchannel ran simulcasts and rebroadcasts of most WGT newscasts and other locally produced programs, along with repeats of ABC News programs in non-traditional timeslots (for example, the weeknight editions of ABC World News Tonight ''aired at 7 p.m, while ''Nightline aired most weekdays at 9 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.). Some programs seen on channel 7.2, such as reruns of the 1960s ABC primetime western The Guns of Will Sonnett, were not shown on Channel 7. Analog-to-digital conversion WGT-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 7, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 24 to VHF channel 7 for post-transition operations. As a result, WGT-TV is the only Toad Harbor television station to retain the same channel allocation post-transition and the only other station alongside WNTV to remain on the VHF dial (WQED moved from VHF channel 9 to UHF channel 30). RF 7 is a VHF channel, its reception can be difficult for people with UHF HDTV antennas. Programming The station carries a high-profile lineup of daytime programming with shows such as Live with Kelly and Ryan, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune (the former two programs are distributed by the station's corporate cousin, Disney-ABC Domestic Television, while the latter two are produced by Sony Pictures Television). Jeopardy! and Wheel have aired on WGT-TV since both shows moved to the station from WTHC-TV in 1992. The Oprah Winfrey Show aired on WGT-TV throughout the program's tenure from 1986 to 2011. It also paired Donahue with Oprah on the station's afternoon lineup in the late 1980s, after the station acquired Donahue from WUTV; however, in the fall of 1995, WGT-TV became one of the first affiliates in the country to drop the talk show, one year before its cancellation. The station had aired the WGT Cure-a-thon with its radio partner, WGT-AM 810. In the 1970s and 1980s, WGT-TV produced weekday talk/variety shows in the 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. timeslot following Good Morning America. A.M. Toad Harbor ran from 1975 to 1987/1988, when it was replaced by Good Morning, Toad Harbor (other ABC owned-and-operated stations produced their own A.M. programs in the 1980s; for example, A.M. Chicago at WACH-TV evolved into The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Live with Kelly and Ryan evolved from a similar A.M. program on WNEW). The View from the Harbor From June 26, 2006 to September 10, 2010, WGT-TV broadcast a locally produced weekday variety show called The View from the Harbor. The hour-long show focused on local attractions as well as interviews and other interests in Toad Harbor. Aimed at female viewers, the show aired weekdays at 10 a.m., and was also live streamed online. 7 Live The View from the Harbor was replaced by a new local afternoon talk program called 7 Live on September 13, 2010 (which was similar in format to one of MSNBC's earliest programs, The Site), taking the former program's previous 10 a.m. timeslot. The program was hosted by longtime WGT-AM radio host Jake Neal and Naomi Todd, who stood at a computerized podium and alternatively acted as "sidekick" or "sounding board" to Neal and shared material from her computer; Todd focused on technology and pop culture segments. 7 Live had an innovative format with a studio audience called "The Voice Box" and viewer-submitter e-mail, Facebook and Twitter comments that were read by the hosts during the program. Neal spent most of the program walking about the studio, peppering his material with humorous comments. Each edition of 7 Live generally ended with Neal sharing a "Thought of the Day." Jana Bass served as the technology/social media co-host from a computerized podium (on a par with Todd) from its premiere until August 2011. The program played off the "seven" theme by sometimes incorporating a seven-item list (referred to as "The List") into the program. "7 Live" was canceled by WGT, due to low ratings, airing its last broadcast on April 27, 2012. News operation WGT-TV presently broadcasts 42½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 6½ hours on weekdays and 5 hours on weekends). WGT-TV also produced an hour-long 9 p.m. newscast for independent station WCFE-TV (channel 20), the program usually rebroadcasted stories previously shown during the 6 p.m. newscast and national and international news reports from ABC News, that newscast ended in July 2014 and was replaced with one produced by WCFE-TV's new sister station WMUSH-TV. WGT-TV had followed the lead of its New York City sister station, WNEW-TV, and adopted the Eyewitness News format for its newscasts in the late 1960s; however, the Eyewitness News title had already been used on WFVE-TV at that time until 2013. As a result, WGT-TV instead called its newscasts Channel 7 News Scene throughout the 1970s, and News 7 from 1982 to 1998, when it switched to the current ABC 7 News branding. Along with the other ABC O&Os, WGT-TV also used an edited version of the "Tar Sequence" from the soundtrack of "Cool Hand Luke" as the theme music for its newscasts starting in 1969. The station broadcast a 4:30 p.m. newscast named Early News in 1970 It was one of the first television programs in Toad Harbor to offer traffic reports. WGT-TV was one of the last ABC affiliates that broadcast the network's evening news program in the 7:00 p.m. time slot. By early 1992, World News Tonight had been displaced to 6:30 p.m, replacing the last half of the 6:00 p.m. news hour. WGT-TV has long broadcast an 11:00 p.m. newscast; it was originally a half-hour program, before expanding to 35 minutes in the early 1990s. The station currently utilizes the market's first helicopter equipped to shoot and transmit high definition video, branded as "Sky 7HD", which made its on-air debut in February 2006. Due to logistical and equipment limitations, video from the helicopter is only available in 4:3 standard definition at times (when this occurs, the helicopter is branded simply "Sky 7"). WGT became the second television station in Toad Harbor (after WUTV) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition on February 17, 2007. On July 20, 2007, longtime evening news anchor and WGT radio talk show host Derek Owen died at age 62. The station aired extensive tributes to Owen when his death was publicly announced the following day. His final newscast and radio show were on July 18, 2007. In 2008, WGT became the first station in the market to start its early morning newscast before 5 a.m., with the expansion of its weekday morning program to 4:30 a.m. Around that same time and prompted by a sluggish economy and the station's conversion to the "Ignite" automated control room system, On May 26, 2011, WGT debuted an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast, which filled the timeslot formerly held by The Oprah Winfrey Show (which ended its 25-year syndication run the previous day). On September 10, 2011, WGT-TV expanded its weekend 11 p.m. newscasts to one hour. WGT broadcast a special seven-minute "minicast" at midnight during the 2012 Summer Olympics, called ABC 7 News Special Edition, as an effort to counterprogram the special midnight local newscast on NBC-owned WNTV that followed the network's primetime Olympics coverage. The special newscast did not air on nights when NBC's Olympic coverage ended before midnight (August 8, for example, resulting in no WGT midnight newscast on August 9). On August 8, 2014, WGT struck a partnership with Univision O&O WTHF-DT to cross-promote newscast and share news context. On July 9, 2015, WGT became the first station in Toad Harbor to fly a commercial drone under newly approved FAA guidelines, called DroneView7. News music history * Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence - Lalo Schifrin (1969-1983) * News Series 2000 - Gari Media (1983-1994) * News One - 615 Music (1994-1998) * News Series 2000 Plus - Gari Media (1998-2000) * Signature - Stephen Arnold Music (2000-2006) * Eyewitness News - Gari Media (2006-present) Category:Toad Harbor Category:Mushroom Kingdom Category:ABC Stations Owned By Disney Category:ABC-owned stations Category:ABC Owned Television Stations Category:ABC affiliated stations Category:Television channels and stations established in 1951 Category:Television stations and channels established in 1951 Category:Channel 7